Instant Pot Ranch Twice Baked Potatoes
Instant Pot Twice Baked Ranch Potatoes are a delicious way to change up your favorite potato side dish with melted cheese, ranch seasoning and scallions on top.
❤️ Why You’ll Love This Recipe: If you love baked potatoes and ranch seasoning, this is a flavor match made in heaven. Plus, your potatoes come out moist and fluffy thanks to your Instant Pot / Pressure Cooker.
This recipe is a game-changing side dish perfect for your next barbecue or picnic. It’s a fun and fancier way to eat and serve baked potatoes, but you get them on the table much quicker than you would if you used just your oven.
If you love Instant Pot baked potatoes as much as my family, you’re going to really love this cheesy, ranchy twist.
How to Make Instant Pot Twice Baked Potatoes
The Instant Pot is a fantastic way to cook whole potatoes. When you make baked potatoes in the oven, they have to be in there for nearly an hour. But with an Instant Pot, you can make totally fork-tender and delicious baked potatoes in a fraction of the time.
For the twice-baked part of this recipe, you’ll quickly finish the potatoes in the oven just to melt the cheese and get that signature golden-brown twice baked potato crust on top.
How Long to Pressure Cook Baked Potatoes
The first step in this recipe is to make simple baked potatoes in the Instant Pot.
The larger your potatoes, the longer you will need to cook them. The exact time depends on the size and shape of your potatoes, but here are my general starting times:
- 8 to 10 ounce potatoes cook at high pressure for 15 minutes
- 10 to 12 ounce potatoes cook at high pressure for 17 minutes
- 12 to 14 ounce potatoes cook at high pressure for 19 minutes
- 14 to 16 ounce potatoes cook at high pressure for 22 minutes
For best results, choose potatoes that are long and slender and around the same size. You may also have to add more time if your potatoes are round.
Potatoes are done when an instant read thermometer reaches 205°F. Or, make sure you can easily insert a fork all the way into the center of the potato before moving on to the next step.
How to Twice Bake Potatoes?
When you have soft and fluffy baked potatoes, you’re ready to shape them for baking in the oven.
- First, cut the potatoes in half. Then scrape out all the creamy potato center, being careful to preserve the shells. You’re going to need six of them to hold your cheesy potato filling. You should be able to easily scrape the potato skins clean using a regular spoon.
- Add the cheese, ranch flavor and a bit of milk for fluffiness into your potato filling. The mixture should be light and creamy like mashed potatoes (use a potato masher to make this easy).
- Finally, stuff all of that delicious potato goodness back into the shells and pop everything into the oven to bake.
The ranch potatoes are done when they have a beautiful golden-brown top and the cheese is melty. You can serve these up hot straight from the oven with a sprinkle of extra bacon and green onions on top.
What Potato Is Best for Twice-Baked?
Russets are the best potato for making twice baked potatoes in the Instant Pot. These are great baking potatoes because they’re nice and starchy and hold up well when they’re cooked through.
Plus, you can find good sized russet potatoes that make the perfect satisfying side dish in one piece. If your potatoes are extra-large, note that you may need to add more time to the pressure cooking.
There’s no need to peel your potatoes before pressure cooking. Simply give them a good scrub and pop them into the Instant Pot on a trivet.
Serving & Storage
These twice baked ranch potatoes are best enjoyed right out of the oven, when they’re hot and the cheese is melty and gooey.
However, you can store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to four days. To reheat, you can pop them back into a 400°F oven or simply microwave until hot.
More Instant Pot Potato Recipes
The Instant Pot makes cooking potatoes quick and easy. Try these other Instant Pot potato recipes next:
- Instant Pot Loaded Potato Casserole, by Renae at Feathered Nester, is the side dish that first introduced us to adding ranch to our potatoes. If you don’t want to take the time to make a twice-baked potato, this easy mashed potato casserole is perfect for you!
- Quick Potato Salad makes the potatoes and hard-boiled eggs at the same time in the pressure cooker, for the easiest potato salad ever.
- Cheesy Potatoes au Gratin is a classic and beloved cheesy and creamy potato side dish made simple in an Instant Pot.
- Instant Pot Sweet Potato Casserole is a classic Thanksgiving side dish with a sweet crumbly pecan topping.
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Instant Pot Ranch Twice Baked Potatoes
Instant Pot Twice Baked Ranch Potatoes are a crowd-pleasing side dish with soft and fluffy baked potatoes topped with cheesy ranch flavor and scallions.
Ingredients
- 6 slices bacon
- 4 large (8 to 10 ounces) unpeeled russet baking potatoes, scrubbed
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 4 teaspoons ranch seasoning
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, to taste
- 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1/3 to 2/3 cups whole milk, as needed
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese, divided
- 2 green onions, minced
Instructions
- Select Sauté to heat the pressure cooking pot. Add the bacon and cook until crisp. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate and let cool, then crumble. Drain the bacon grease and discard. Wipe out the cooking pot. Add 1 cup water to the cooking pot and place a trivet in the bottom.
- Place the potatoes on the trivet, stacking them crosswise if needed. Lock the lid in place. Select High Pressure and 15 minutes cook time.
- When the cook time ends, turn off the pressure cooker. Use a quick pressure release. When the valve drops, carefully remove the lid. Check that the potatoes are fork-tender, between 200 and 205°F. If needed, relock the lid and cook at High Pressure for 2 to 3 minutes more.*
- Remove the cooking pot from the housing and let the potatoes cool in the pot until cool enough to handle.
- Preheat the oven to 400°F.
- Carefully remove the potatoes from the cooking pot. Carefully slice in half, and scoop the insides into a large bowl, leaving a 1/4-inch-thick shell. Place 6 shells on a rimmed baking sheet. (Discard the remaining 2 shells.)
- With a potato masher, mash the potatoes until no lumps remain. Mash in the butter, ranch seasoning, salt, and pepper. Add the milk a little at a time, mashing after each addition until the potatoes are light and fluffy. Reserve some cheddar, bacon, and green onions for topping, then stir in the remaining cheddar, bacon, and green onions.
- Fill the shells with the mashed potato mixture and top with reserved ingredients. Bake for about 15 minutes, or until the potatoes are hot and the tops are browned.
- Serve immediately.
Notes
*The larger your potatoes, the longer you will need to cook them. The exact time depends on the size and shape of your potatoes, but here are my general starting times:
- 8 to 10 ounce potatoes cook at high pressure for 15 minutes
- 11 to 12 ounce potatoes cook at high pressure for 17 minutes
- 13 to 14 ounce potatoes cook at high pressure for 19 minutes
- 15 to 16 ounce potatoes cook at high pressure for 22 minutes
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 6 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 323Total Fat: 18gSaturated Fat: 10gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 7gCholesterol: 51mgSodium: 629mgCarbohydrates: 28gFiber: 3gSugar: 2gProtein: 12g
Nutrition information is calculated by Nutritionix and may not always be accurate.
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This is a great recipe. I took this to a family dinner last night. Traveled well, assembled and covered in foil. Then I baked them 15 minutes before host was to serve pork roast. Worked well and everyone raved over these potatoes. I really appreciate the time you took with the details, like the weight of the potatoes and the cooking times, and the internal temperature tip = worked perfect. Thanks for a great recipe.
Thanks so much Lea Ann! So fun to hear they were a hit at your party. Thanks for sharing your tips.
I use Blue Cheese Dressing, I would think almost any cream-style dressing would work.
Sounds like a great addition – thanks for sharing James!
Is there anything else you can use instead of Ranch Seasoning? I hate Ranch . Thank you.
rkey1401
You can just omit it – salt and pepper are enough with the toppings. Or, you could use a little bit of your favorite spice, just add a little bit at a time.